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The following Frequently Asked Questions are placed here to help those
interested in learning about our D20 Insane Campaign.
Player Questions
What is the D20 INSANE Campaign?
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An attempt to take Role Playing and Game Mastering to a whole new
level. It combines multiple D20 settings and genres. It
allows everyone to be Game Master in a shared mega-verse. It
allows players to construct wacky and wahoo characters from any universe
they desire. It allows players to hop between adventures. It
allows GMs to revisit failed campaign plot lines or encounters. It
challenges players to think outside the normal stream of character and
campaign development. |
Do I have to take a turn at being Game Master?
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Yes, we would appreciate 2 adventures from each player, even if they
are pre-generated adventures. An important part of the campaign is
not knowing who will GM next so characters can't anticipate upcoming
events. |
What makes this different from other rotating-GM games?
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Nothing really, the insanity is the randomness of the GM and the
randomness of the player characters that appear for each adventure. |
Character Questions
What type of characters can I play?
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Almost any character is playable. Please keep in mind that
some settings denizens will frown upon a truly unique individual
appearing in public. Disguise or illusion should be considered for
those instances where a character wouldn't quite fit in. |
What level characters?
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We have decided on 15th level as the APL. If necessary
we can allow higher or lower level characters as the group progresses. |
What about ECL characters?
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ECL characters are allowed but should be made public to the group
before inclusion. |
What about monstrous characters?
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Just like other ECL characters, monstrous characters can be
included, but disguise might be necessary to prevent an entire
population from attacking such monstrous entity upon arrival in a
universe. See Savage Species or Monster's Handbook |
How much gold or wealth do I start with?
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Wealth would be calculated normally based on the D20 Modern rules.
Gold pieces should also be calculated based on D&D rules for higher
level characters.
The D&D equivalent wealth should be 200,000 gold pieces.
The D20 Modern wealth should be rolled, remember to take a rank in
profession so your wealth bonus will climb by larger amounts with
successful wealth checks. |
What method do I use to calculate ability scores?
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We want this to be a high powered campaign, use 5d6 discarding
lowest 2 dice, 7 rolls are permitted to attain 6 ability scores. |
What source material can I build my character from?
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Almost anything D20 or D&D 3.5 related is acceptable. |
Can I use an existing character in this campaign?
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Yes, but remember that a living character would no longer be
feasible to return to his prior campaign. Think about using
deceased characters who could have had an alternate life had they chosen
a different path before dying. |
Who runs my character when I am GM?
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Either you as GM can turn your character into an NPC or someone else
can volunteer to run your character. |
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Dungeon Master Questions
How many sessions should I plan to GM?
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Plan for 2 adventures each lasting about 2-3 sessions. If you
run over to 4 sessions that's acceptable, but don't make it a habit. |
How long should I prepare each adventure?
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Each adventure should be from 2 to 3 sessions. |
What constraints am I limited to as GM?
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The adventure should be built with a few points in mind. 1)
The party is purveyors of Chaos, so a lawful or orderly challenge is
good
2) The party will consist of about 6 characters who were not
designed to work together
3) The challenge should be difficult enough to challenge the
party, while having the ability for the party to fail without a total
party kill. Order Lords would like to fight another day as well.
Not every NPC should fight to the death, especially wise and intelligent
ones.
4) The adventure should be designed with a quick introduction
to a problem and a well defined goal but not necessarily a solution. |
What CR should my encounters be based on?
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The party should be APL 15, expect 6 characters, so the CR should be
between 15 and 17, but as the party progresses, the CR should increase
appropriately. Remember also that a CR 15 monster from Dungeons
and Dragons may be at a disadvantage against a party of gun users from
the future. Accordingly, a D20 Modern party may be at a
disadvantage against a magic using party from Dungeons and Dragons. |
What source material am I restricted to?
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Please keep the source material D20 or Dungeons and Dragons related.
All D20 material is accepted with slight modifications to some
rules. |
Can I use a pre-made adventure?
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Yes, we suggest getting any of the following source materials for
ideas:
- 1) Beyond Countless Doorways
- 2) Portals and Planes
- 3) Manual of the Planes
- 4) Planar Handbook
- 5) Perilous Gateway Of Faerun
- 6) Farscape
Other source material that is not D20
- 1) Tangents (not D20)
- 2) RIFTS Splynn Dimensional Universe
- 3) GURPS Time Travel
- 4) Heroes Unlimited Galaxy Guide
Other materials can be scaled to create adventures for the party as
well. |
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Where do I email my campaign setting ? |
insane@xocomp.net |
| Where are these rule modifications and consolidations coming
from? |
Most of these modifications and consolidations are
coming from D20 Modern, with a few rule adjustments from Unearthed
Arcana. Some of the modifications are just slight variations from
those published. |
| What feats are required for automatic fire of ranged weapons? |
There are basically two tracks for attaining autofire
the D20 Modern and the Dragonstar feat track. 1) Personal Firearms
Proficiency, Advance Firearms Proficiency, and Burst Fire
2) Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Technical Proficiency, Martial
Weapons Proficiency, Rapid Shot and Autofire
Since the Autofire rules are consolidated to be more like D20, we
will accept the following D&D/Dragonstar feats to fire automatic
weapons.
2 rev) Technical Proficiency, Martial Weapons Proficiency, and then
Autofire
Since Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot and Rapid Fire/Shot have
benefits of their own, they can be used to aid other Ranged Attack
Methods |
| What modes of Fire do ranged weapons
have? |
1) Single - a weapon of this type can only be fired once per round (rocket
launcher etc...)
2) Semi-Automatic - a weapon of this type can be fired multiple times if the
character has multiple attacks because of BAB or a specific Feat
3) Automatic - a weapon of this type can be placed into one of three modes
(assault rifles, machine guns etc...)
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| What are the
Automatic Modes of Fire? |
a) obviously Semi-Auto or Single shot
b) Burst - an attack made at an individual expending more ammo
c) Autofire and Strafe - an attack made at an area expending way more ammo
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| What are the descriptions for
Automatic Modes? |
b) Burst fire allows a person to take multiple shots at a target that deals more
damage. The attack is at -4 but with one to attack roll the shooter can do +2
dice of damage dice to the target. If a weapon does 2d6 damage then a successful
hit will do 4d6 damage instead. If the weapon does 3d8 then it will do 5d8
instead. The Burst fire Feat is required for this attack method. The Burst fire
can be used as a single attack, so a character with high enough BAB could
potentially fire multiple Bursts at targets as long as he has ammunition
remaining.
c) Autofire allows a character to target an area, Autofire is a 10x10 area,
Strafe is a 5 x 20 ft area. Both specify feats, Autofire requires Advanced
proficiency, Strafe requires Strafe of course.
Autofire can be performed at a -4 if the character doesn't have the required
feat. The area targeted has a Defense Rating of 10 and every character in the
area must make a Reflex save (DC15) or take the damage rolled by the attacking
character. A save apparently negates any damage.
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What about
Massive Damage?
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I like the following system for massive damage since we are playing D20 I figure
we should use something similar to the D20 Modern system rather than the
arbitrary 50 hp based system for D&D.
The D20 Modern massive damage goes something like this....
If the damage exceeds your CON score you have to make a Fortitude Save at a DC15
or be dropped to -1 hit points while unconscious and dying.
I like Unearthed Arcana modifications that goes something like this...
The damage threshold will be based on your character level and CON.
So, a 15th level hero with a 15 CON would only have to worry about damage that
exceeds 30 before attempting a Fortitude save. Also, the damage above 30 would
be scaled to affect the saving throw DC. The base would be 15, but for every 5
points above the damage threshold, the DC would increase by 1. So in essence the
above character who gets hit by 50 points of damage would have to save and the
DC would be adjusted to 19 instead of 15.
When the save is failed, the character is brought to -1 hit points, the character becomes disabled and must make the save
again every round until they become dying when their hit points becomes lower than their
CON modifier. Disabled characters can perform one move action per round until
dying. This would allow our character above to take 2 actions before becoming
a dying character. He fails his save, goes to -1, moves away from danger, saves again, if he
fails he can move again, but he is at -2 hit points, once he is at -3 hp he will be
dying and unconscious.
Of course don't forget a character should use his action points when saving vs. Massive
Damage.
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How many
Action Points or Hero Points do characters get? |
Action points can be acquired for any character in our campaign at 5+
(1/2 x Level). So, if our hero at 15th level should have 5x15 + 60 or 135, but
since we assume the characters have been using action points, to get to 15th
level, the typical rule is 5 + (1/2 x level) so the characters will have 12
action points. 15th level characters will get to roll 3d6 when burning an action
point. Quite high.
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| What can Action Points be used for? |
Action points can be used for the following reasons:
- Activate a class ability - some classes have abilities that are only allowed a #
of times/day. This could override the #.
- Boost Defense when fighting defensively by +4. This is a free-action that must
be called on the defending characters turn.
- Emulate Feat use an action point to emulate a feat your character doesn't have.
- Extra Attack use to perform one extra attack.
- Spell Boost increases your spell level by 2 before casting.
- Spell Recall allows a known spell that wasn't memorized for the day to be cast.
- Stabilize as mentioned above, I'd use my action points for the save, but to
automatically stabilize afterwards might be useful too.
- Skill checks and attack rolls of course.
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| What about
DR, Armor Class and Defense? |
D20 Modern's concept of DR can be scaled for AC scores.
A typical armor without DR can be converted to having DR by dividing the AC by 2
rounding down to determine DR.
A studded leather armor gives +3 in D&D would give +2 armor bonus to defense
with 1/- DR in D20 Insane.
A suit of full plate would give +4 armor bonus to defense and 4/- DR.
A shield still works as shield bonus to defense.
There are rules for Defense Bonus equivalents for all standard character
classes. A 15th level wizard would have +7, a 15th level rogue would have +8, a
15th level fighter would have +11.
This Defense Bonus table is taken from page 110 of Unearthed Arcana
15th level monk, sorcerer, or wizard would have +7 Defense Bonus
15th level bard, ranger, or rogue would have +8 Defense Bonus
15th level barbarian or druid would have +9 Defense Bonus
15th level fighter, cleric, or paladin would have +10 Defense Bonus
Defense and Armor Bonus
If your character chooses to use the simpler D&D AC system, then no
Defense Bonus can be gained while using this type of armor. damage
reduction (DR)
• A special defense that allows a creature to ignore a set amount of
damage from most weapons, unarmed attacks, or natural weapons, but not
from energy
attacks, spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities. The
number in a creature’s damage reduction is the number of hit points of
damage the
creature ignores. The information after the slash indicates the type of
weapon (e.g. magic, silver, or evil) that overcomes the damage
reduction. Some
damage reduction (e.g. that of a barbarian) is not overcome by any type
of weapon.
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| What about
Healing? |
Natural healing from 1 night or 8 hours of rest would restore at 1 hit
point per level.
Successful heal/treat injury checks would double this rate.
Magic or Advanced Medical Equipment could help with the rate of
healing or check. |
| What about
Experience? |
Since our character may come from different systems, XP and progression is going
to be based on D20 Modern table. We will use the standard tables which say
something to the effect of 1000 x Current Level to attain the next level
of experience.
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| What races are allowed? |
All races and genotypes are allowed, but it is unlikely, but not impossible,
that the group should encounter a mutant goblin. A mutant goblin could appear
if he comes from a world where D&D monsters or characters have
encountered mutagens like those found in Gamma World.
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| What classes are allowed? |
All classes from any D&D/D20 system are allowed Prestige and Advanced Classes
are also allowed. Please bring source materials otherwise we may refuse to allow
your character to take a class that we don't have the source for.
Try to make your character's class make sense for the world he/she originates
from. If the character is too far out there his back story better be good. |
| What about
Critical Success and Failure? |
Almost any roll can have a critical success or failure. So, skill checks,
initiative, and attacks are all susceptible.
We will leave it up to individual GMs to determine |
| What are the different types of bonuses? |
- bonus
• A positive modifier to a die roll. In most cases, multiple bonuses
from the same source or of the same type in effect on the same
character or object do not stack; only the highest bonus of that
type applies. Bonuses that don’t have a specific type always stack
with all bonuses.
- armor bonus
• A bonus to AC granted by armor or by a spell or magical effect
that mimics armor. Armor bonuses stack with all other bonuses to AC
(even natural armor bonuses) except other armor bonuses. Magic armor
typically grants an enhancement bonus to the armor’s armor bonus,
which has the effect of increasing the armor’s overall bonus. An
armor bonus granted by a spell or magic item typically takes the
form of an invisible, tangible field of force around the recipient.
• An armor bonus doesn’t apply against touch attacks, except for
armor bonuses granted by force effects (e.g. mage armor) which apply
against incorporeal touch attacks, such as that of a shadow.
- base save bonus
• A saving throw modifier derived from character class and level.
Base save bonuses increase at different rates for different
character classes. Base save
bonuses gained from different classes, such as when a character is a
multiclass character, stack.
- circumstance bonus
• A bonus granted because of specific conditional factors favorable
to the success of the task at hand. Circumstance bonuses stack with
all other bonuses, including other circumstance bonuses, unless they
arise from essentially the same benefit.
- competence bonus
• A bonus that improves a character’s performance of a particular
task. Such a bonus may apply on attack rolls, saving throws, skill
checks, caster level checks, or any other checks to which a bonus
relating to level or skill ranks would normally apply. It does not
apply on ability checks, damage rolls, initiative checks, or other
rolls that aren’t related to a character’s level or skill ranks.
Multiple competence bonuses don’t stack; only the highest bonus
applies.
- deflection bonus
• A bonus to AC granted by a spell or magic effect that makes
attacks veer off harmlessly. Deflection bonuses stack with all other
bonuses to AC except other deflection bonuses. A deflection bonus
applies against touch attacks.
- dodge bonus
• A bonus to AC (and sometimes Reflex saves) resulting from physical
skill at avoiding blows and other ill effects. Dodge bonuses are
never granted by spells or magic items. Any situation or effect
(except wearing armor) that negates a character’s DEX bonus also
negates any dodge bonuses the character may have. Dodge bonuses
stack with all other bonuses to AC, even other dodge bonuses. Dodge
bonuses apply against touch attacks.
- enhancement bonus
• A bonus that represents an increase in the sturdiness and/or
effectiveness of armor or natural armor, or the effectiveness of a
weapon, or a general bonus to an ability score. Multiple enhancement
bonuses on the same object (in the case of armor or weapons),
creature (in the case of natural armor), or ability score do not
stack. Only the highest enhancement bonus applies. Since enhancement
bonuses to armor or natural armor effectively increase the armor or
natural armor’s bonus to AC, they don’t apply against touch attacks.
- insight bonus
• An insight bonus improves performance of a given activity by
granting the character an almost precognitive knowledge of what
might occur. Multiple
insight bonuses on the same character or object do not stack. Only
the highest insight bonus applies.
- luck bonus
• A modifier that represents good fortune. Multiple luck bonuses on
the same character or object do not stack. Only the highest luck
bonus applies.
- morale bonus
• A bonus representing the effects of greater hope, courage, and
determination. Multiple morale bonuses on the same character do not
stack. Only the highest morale bonus applies. Nonintelligent
creatures (creatures with an INT score of 0 or no INT score at all)
cannot benefit from morale bonuses.
- natural armor bonus
• A bonus to AC resulting from a creature’s naturally tough hide.
Natural armor bonuses stack with all other bonuses to AC (even armor
bonuses) except other natural armor bonuses. Some magical effects
(e.g. barkskin) grant an enhancement bonus to the creature’s
existing natural armor bonus, which has the effect of increasing the
natural armor’s overall bonus to AC. A natural armor bonus doesn’t
apply against touch attacks.
- profane bonus
• A bonus that stems from the power of evil. Multiple profane
bonuses on the same character or object do not stack. Only the
highest profane bonus applies.
- racial bonus
• A bonus granted because of the culture a particular creature was
brought up in or because of innate characteristics of that type of
creature. If a creature’s race changes (for instance, if it dies and
is reincarnated), it loses all racial bonuses it had in its previous
form.
- resistance bonus
• A bonus on saving throws that provides extra protection against
harm. Multiple resistance bonuses on the same character or object do
not stack. Only the highest resistance bonus applies.
- sacred bonus
• A bonus that stems from the power of good. Multiple sacred bonuses
on the same character or object do not stack. Only the highest
sacred bonus applies.
- shield bonus
• A bonus to AC granted by a shield or by a spell or magical effect
that mimics a shield. Shield bonuses stack with all other bonuses to
AC except other shield bonuses. A magic shield typically grants an
enhancement bonus to the shield’s shield bonus, which has the effect
of increasing the shields overall bonus to AC. A shield bonus
granted by a spell or magic item typically takes the form of an
invisible, tangible field of force that protects the recipient. A
shield bonus doesn’t apply against touch attacks.
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Other Questions
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